Sense8 1.07 “WWN Double-D?”

After a couple of iffy episodes that fleshed out (sometimes literally) the corners of the Sense8 universe, the show takes some strong steps forward in the plot department, and utilizes some of its more problematic characters in the process. Officer Gorski, though barely seen in the episode, makes some concrete headway into the investigation that he feels is at the center of the strange phenomena. Though Gorski will probably never be the most compelling of the eight, it’s refreshing to see a policeman do police work. Though he might make a questionable decision in the pursuit of a lead, he does not resort to intimidation or some convenient, constructed plot reveal to get his information. Instead of rote conflict, the exchange relies on “commerce,” which allows for some interesting character moments from a vaguely threatening Chicago street gang and a surprising insight into Gorski’s dating history. What seems like a small aside is just what this character has been missing up to this point; hopefully this development will continue as the series moves towards its conclusion.

Nomi makes the other big moves this episode, and does it with a little more panache than in previous installments. This is mainly due to the fact that other than giving a listing of computer components that sounds like Joe Dirt buying fireworks to a hacker associate who vaguely resembles Joe Dirt, Sense8 finally frees Nomi from the burden of dialogue and lets her get down to some…hacktivism. After being a victim and an exposition generator for the first six episodes, Nomi takes charge and moves the plot forward exponentially. The ease with which she locates nearly everything she needs to know beggars belief, but the Amanita/Nomi mystery solving duo beats another information dump any day of the week. Extra points are awarded for finally bringing the audience up to speed on the creepy guy who menaced Daryl Hannah in the first episode. Active Nomi is much superior to philosophical Nomi; she should be a part of the events of the story rather than commenting endlessly on them.

Sun’s story takes a turn for the better, particularly after the borderline Law and Order: SVU events in the last episode. After having her demeaned so fully by the intake procedure, it was nice to see that she didn’t immediately have to fight the toughest prisoner. That seems to be coming in later episodes, but her cellmates’ tales of the how they ended up incarcerated and Sun’s eventual acceptance into the group helped take the edge off the exploitative aspects of her storyline.

This perhaps coincides with her separation from Lito during this episode. His role as the designated comic relief has worked on some levels and not on others. The idea of a hyper-masculine film star with a huge domestic secret hit for me in a big way. Trying to mine laughs first from Sun’s menstrual period and then lightening her trauma at the prison by superimposing it with Lito being suave in an interview did not. There’s nothing inherently wrong with positioning Lito as the comic relief in Sense8; a show with a character named Whispers reanimating a lobotomized man needs something to take a little bit of air out of the balloon. The issue is what is played for laughs. There isn’t anything funny about the being abused because of your sex or situation. That isn’t to say that there are not humorous veins to be mined between Lito and Sun, but Sense8 has to work harder to find them.

The rest of Lito’s story, and the rest of the episode, serve to set up the conflicts each character will have as the season comes to a close. This gives Sense8 definite forward momentum after two episodes that allowed for a deeper explanation of some of the characters, but also for some of the seams in the characterization to show. It seems that after the events of this episode, all of the characters have somewhere to go in the second part of the season. “W.W.N. Double D?” is in many ways a more conventional episode of a show that wants to stand firmly outside the mainstream, but this is not a bad thing. Up to this point, the Wachowskis and Straczynski have had fun exploring their concept. Adding some plot to the mix puts Sense8 on the next level.